Closer
by lilrednightmare
Summary: MODERN DAY -retelling. Erik is on the FBI's most wanted list for various crimes of the highest nature. Christine,an 18 year old, dreams of stardom. She reminds him of someone from his past. He longs to be..closer.
1. The city is haunted

**AN**: This is a modern day fic. Erik is much darker in this as well. still in school so can't say how short up dates will be up to chapter 3. will be out of school in begining of december, will hopfully have more time then. Terrible at grammer, but did my best to find errors. Rating may change. hope you enjoy.

**disclaimer:** dont own any original phantom ideas, stories or characters.

_**chapter 1**_

"_911 this is dispatch, we have a level 3 lockdown situation at the firestone corporation building ,we need all units and swat to respond to a hostage and take over situation . I repeat, all available units in the area -over."_

The police responded and the sirens rang out through the whole city as police cruisers forced their way through the streets avoiding pedestrians and taxi drivers. The cruisers were heading toward 28th not far from Time Square to the large building known as the firestone cooperation described on the radio.

This sort of situation didn't seem uncommon to find on the streets of New York City. Many police have responded to very similar situations to something like this. But something was different about this situation that put many of the officers on edge, for there was something or someone much more sinister and craftier causing the heist then usual. It was the third hostage and take over situation the police had dealt with in a month and by now detectives are sure it is the same person for all of them. So far however, no one has any clue who it is.

Whoever it was, they were causing a big stir in New York's crime scene and Chief Brady the head of the police force wanted the person stopped as fast as possible. Little did he or even detectives know the true reasons behind the recent attacks on cooperate businesses and federal buildings.

The police cruisers slammed to a halt in front of the building, loading their guns and standing behind their car doors . Chief Brady stood by making orders, watching and waiting.

" Chief I just got off the phone with Chercoff. They said swat is on their way." Said a police officer.

Brady grumbled. He knew that not even swat was going to get their hands on the bastard this time. Boy did they have there work cut out for them. This guys tactics were nothing like he had ever dealt with before. By now Brady was beginning to understand on how this guy worked, but he knew he was still very far from getting any more answers. In The first heist they had found no traces or evidence what so ever. As if a damn ghost just slipped in and walked out with millions of cash and no one thought a thing about it.

It wasn't until the second crime that they got something out of it, only thing that enraged Brady was that after inspecting the crime scene , detectives told him that the evidence was so obviously placed that they suspected that it wasn't at all by means on accident. The bastard was playing with them. Brady couldn't believe it. This time Brady was ready for war.

"How many people are still stuck in the building?" Brady yelled over the sirens and noise.

"At least 20 or more sir, but whether he's keeping them hostage were still not sure." A police officer yelled back.

Brady nodded. "All right I want units stationed in the back of the building and the side. When swat arrives will give the signal and head them in unless we get something from this guy as a warning to stand our ground. Give a report of any movement inside the building or of anyone coming out, all right, now go."

The officers did as was told calling out through the radio to give others their station. Brady felt that this time he was going to get much more out of the guy then before, but for catching him he wasn't so sure.

Soon swat arrived . They all jumped out in there police armor and headed to the chief. Brady told them the situation and what he wanted them to do.

" I want five of you to stay in the front just in case he comes down from the upper levels, the rest I want to head up the steps and go through each of the floors as fast as you can. Radio me for anything that comes along. There are still some people inside so unless someone is endangered by someone else or someone has weapons on them I don't want any shooting. Alright, now go." The swat moved out as soon as he stopped speaking and rushed on into the building.

"Hey! get those people away from the building at least 100 feet away!" Brady yelled out to the police holding onlookers back away from the commotion.

Brady weaved his way through police cruisers and passed cops still pointing their guns at the building. He came up to the swat van and one of the men led him inside. The van was filled with video and audio soft ware and computers. The man who led him inside brought him to one of the screens. It was a video image of one of the swat men. The camera was built on his helmet spot so they could see what was happening inside.

Brady knelt closer to the screen to have a better look. The swat team was heading up the stairs. they were now on the third floor. So far there was no signs of any dangerous people, only people hidden behind there desks. Some of the swat led them out to the stairs while the rest kept moving onward.

Brady concentrated hard making sure he didn't miss a thing. He couldn't believe that this was all being done by one person and waited impatiently to see someone with a gun ready for a fight.

After about 10 minutes the swat team was on the 5th floor. The building only had twelve floors but it was wide so it took sometime to go through. When the swat hit the 8th floor Brady knew something was wrong. He asked the man by him to radio the swat to move slower and be more cautious. On the video the team came into a main hallway where the elevators were. They passed the elevators slowly to reach the other end where another set of stairs where.

On the video the man with the camera moved his head slowly side to side to be ready for any assault. When the swat was half across the hall, one of the elevators suddenly rang to acknowledge that someone was coming down. The swat team stopped and readied themselves.

As soon as the elevator doors opened however, no one was inside, but then suddenly thick smoke started to erupt from inside and bellow out into the hall. The video reception became foggy and nothing could be seen. Brady waited.

As soon as a scream was heard the shots began to fire endlessly. There were shouts and chaos all through out the video feed. Brady cursed.

"Tell your men to retreat god damn it!" Brady shouted and stepped out of the van. He ran passed the cruisers to the front." I want you all back! Stay back by your cars! Ill signal when to fire!" Brady shouted to them.

The swat inside the front lobby began to go up the stairs on to where the firing took place. Some of the hostages or people stuck inside began to come down and rush out the doors.

"Take hold of them! Get them into a cruiser. I don't want them going anywhere, they're witnesses! Where does the swat think they're going! I told them to retreat and come back down! Officer Chase bring those people back now before-

Suddenly a huge explosion on one of the floors caused them to jump away and duck by their cars. Brady was knocked off guard and knelt down on the road. The heat of the explosion was so hot that it made sweat form on Brady's face. It was so loud his ears popped. He got up and took orders once again.

"No shooting do you here me! I want you all back away now!" Brady continued to shout over the hysteria. Many officers were slow in obeying for some lost a good portion of their hearing.

The flames from the explosion began to consume the floor. Firefighters were called immediately and the swat retreated out before they got stuck in the fire.

After about an hour Brady had a huge headache not knowing if it was from the explosion or from the chaos that had took place. Fortunately, not everything went as horrible as he thought. From the information he was given no one had been killed, but there were quite a few injuries. Some of the swat had gotten shot , but luckily in places where they were able to recover and everyone else and made it out with nothing more then some bruises and cuts and a nice story to tell the family.

The fire was not as large as thought so it was put out quickly although the whole floor on which the explosion had been on was completely destroyed. Brady went around checking on everything and everyone as much as he possibly could. He soon would have to get investigators back into the building for any evidence on the guy and what he took. Brady was sure he was gone by now so didn't give a second thought on trying to pursue and find him through the building any longer.

The man from inside the swat vehicle came striding towards him at a rather fast pace. When Brady noticed this he knew there must be good news.

"Sir, I need you to come back to the swat car, I believe we have something caught on tape." Brady nodded and they rushed back to the van.

When Brady got inside there were others as well, back on the computers taking in data. The man who led him in brought him back to the video receiver. The man clicked on a reverse button to go all through the footage. Brady watched closely for anything. The man played it back to the time when shots were being fired in the hallway with smoke.

At first nothing could be seen but then suddenly something flashed by that made Brady yelp and ask to play it back. When it was played back Brady stopped it just in time to freeze whatever had flashed by. Brady's grey eyes widened. He frowned and rubbed his bearded chin, staring.

The picture was grainy and distorted but it was just clear enough to make out the figure of a man. He seemed to be wearing all black. A weapon could be seen in one hand and a bag of sorts in the other. Seemingly just a typical looking bad guy, but that wasn't what made Brady stare. He didn't know whether to laugh or be very, very worried.

The black figure in the video wore a mask. The mask didn't look very common; in fact it looked hand made. The mask made the dark figure look more sinister then ever. Although it seemed like it shouldn't bother him. He had dealt with guys in masks before who held up banks. But he could tell this guy was much different, much smarter then them. Brady could tell for once that this guy knew exactly what he was doing and that he wasn't going to be easy to catch. Not by a long shot.

"Can I get a print made of this for the record? And ill also want the tape too." Brady asked the man. The guy nodded and in a few minutes Brady had a small image of the dark menacing figure and a copy of the tape of the incident for detectives to see. The door to the van then opened and a familiar face appeared to Brady.

"Ah, Detective Hartling I have a tape and photo for you to see." Brady said hold out the two items.

"Thanks chief, but there's someone here who'd like to see those and speak with you first, will you please come with me?"

"Yea, of course," Brady stepped out of the car and followed the detective.

They weaved once again in between police cruisers until they came up on a regular black car sitting out on the corner. The detective gestured for him to step inside it and Brady did so. He suddenly had a bad feeling now that the FBI or someone like them was now getting involved. When he got inside and sat down, opposite him sat a darker skinned man.

"Good afternoon Mr. Brady my name is Nadir Kahn" the man said and held out his hand. Brady took it. Nadir's voice had some what of an accent to it, something possibly from the middle east Brady wondered.

"Nice to meet you Nadir, how can I help you?" Brady said looking closely at the man.

"Well firstly I think its best to say Mr. Brady that we can equally help each other in this situation. You see, the man that you have been looking for this past month is someone I've been looking for, for quite sometime myself. I recently had been investigating around the Washington area of his whereabouts until I tracked him here. I have some very valuable information that you'll want to know if you will help me in my services as well."

Brady looked at Nadir and couldn't believe what he was hearing. The man who had been doing these con jobs was not even a local. He was wanted and in god knows where or how many places. Now he was really beginning to understand how dangerous this guy and the situation really were. He wanted Nadir's information now more then ever and we would give him any help he needed in retrieving it.

"I will gladly do so Nadir. This guy is more dangerous then I thought. We need him off the streets of New York and likely anywhere else as fast as possible before he strikes out again. So far luckily there have been no deaths, but I can't imagine something not going wrong sooner or later in the future."

Nadir nodded his head. "I know exactly what you mean Mr. Brady and I assure you I feel exactly as you do or I would have not gone all this way to find him. This man is more dangerous then you can possibly imagine. This could be just the beginning of his works. The only issue is he's always changing his direction, which makes it harder to track him." Nadir took out files from beside him and gave them to Brady. Brady looked over them slowly taking in the information.

" He's gone all through out the country most of the time we lose him for about a month or two when he's done his job in a certain place, but there have been times were he goes missing off our track and we do not hear of anything for quite along time."

"What has been the longest for you?" Brady asked flipping through the papers.

"We lost him for about a year and a half back in 2003. Things were very vague after that for we weren't sure what he was doing or what his plans were."

Brady had looked up stunned when Nadir told him this. "How long have you been trying to track him down Mr. Kahn?"

"It would be about seven years now."

Brady shook his head. Seven years and he still out there and who knew what he was planning next.

"What else do you know Nadir?'

Nadir seemed to hesitate and then he stared out the car window. "I know enough that he needs to be stopped…at all costs. He works alone, but I am sure there are others that he has used to get what he wants. Right now however, I have theories and possible evidence that he is now working either for or beside someone, but who that is I'm still not sure. The reason for taking out companies is one clue, but there still is not enough evidence."

"And that's why you need me I suppose. " Brady guessed.

"No sir, that is why you need me. This man is very smart. When he thinks we are too close to him that he's not comfortable with he will leave and I assure you, you will never here of him or come closer to finding him ever again. So it is best that no one besides you and your detectives know of our meeting. I will give you the information you need for now and will help you as best I can in the dark, but as soon as he's gone I will follow."

Brady nodded even though he wished that it didn't have to be so complicated. In the light of the situation if this guy leaves then it will be one case off his shoulders, but that was never Brady's way. Anyone who is a danger any where should be off the streets no matter what. But even so he understood Nadir's intentions and would keep Nadir's information to himself and detectives.

"All right ,Nadir, thank you for your help. I will do my best to help you find and catch this guy."

Nadir took out a card and gave it to Brady. "Call me if you are to hear of anything that could be useful to me and thank you as well for your time." Brady nodded and opened the door.

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to have a name for the guy would you?" Brady asked before stepping out.

"Yes," Nadir mumbled. "His name is Erik."


	2. First sight

**_Chapter 2_**

The stages of New York seemed the last place Christine thought shed ever find herself. Not that she was there for an actual professional production such as Wicked or Mama Mia, but the mere fact that she was there for anything seemed to be hard to believe.

When Christine stepped out of the bus on to the streets of Broadway she nearly couldn't believe the sight. Her best friend, Meg, shared a similar look beside her as they both looked on in awe and sheer excitement. As soon as all of her choir mates had stepped off the bus there teacher instructed them to follow. Christine and Meg hooked arms and laughed and jumped in excitement.

"I can't believe were actually here, Meg, this is amazing!" Christine yelled over the noise of the busy New York streets.

"I told you, didn't I? And here you were thinking about not coming and leaving your best friend behind to have to sit and sing alone probably side by side with the levy twins, while they played another game of who can be the loudest. I can't believe you Christine." Meg turned her face away as if to pout but stilled carried a smile on her face.

"Ok, ok I know, you've been reminding me the whole ride here, but I came didn't I?" Christine stated truthfully. She really was happy that she came.

"Yea I know, but the fact you almost decided you didn't want to see all of this?" Meg pointed in the directing of the buildings.

Christine laughed lightly, but truthfully it wasn't that she didn't want to see New York. She actually wanted to see it real badly. It was more the fact that she was having trouble at home that had caused a problem. Living with three other girls who had other things they wanted as well had caused a bad issue in her household. She had begged her aunt and uncle and made bargains with her younger cousins on monthly chores all in her attempt to be able to come for this trip. It took a lot of luck and understanding from her family to convince them.

As they followed there teacher, Meg, pointed at all the monuments, buildings and statues she saw putting "Oohhs" and "Oh my gods" before all her sentences. Christine was fascinated herself. She had never been in such a huge overcrowded place before. There school lived in a very rural area very close to the country with only small towns around them.

A stranger bumped passed them pushing them out of their way.

"Hey you jerk watch it or ill push you out in the road!" Meg yelled back to him. Christine laughed hard and so did Meg and then shrugged.

"My mom said you have to be real tough out here or people will just walk over you and you know how I feel about that so I might as well give out my toughest act."

"By the end of the week people will think you're a true New Yorker Meg." Christine laughed. Meg had always had a tough and spunky personality that Christine always admired, one of the many reasons why Meg was her one, true friend.

They sped around a corner until they came to a very big and old vintage looking building. Their teacher, Mr. Cleveland stopped all of them. The chaperones surrounded them making the group huddle together.

"Ok when we get inside I want the guys to come follow me into their dressing rooms and the girls will follow Mrs. Swift into theirs. Then we will all meet up on stage for rehearsals and go back stage in the last half hour until its show time. Stick together and don't wonder too far off from a chaperone. Mrs. Swift and I will take attendance as soon as we get inside. All right lets go!"

Christine and Meg looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Although they had Mr. Cleveland for four years as a teacher he still didn't seem to get that they were now nearly adults and didn't need Chaperones to look after them. As they followed the crowd inside Christine was willing to bet that sooner or later this evening Meg would rebel and break rules and force Christine to join her. Something that was not very uncommon for Christine when around Meg.

As the hours went by, Christine and Meg had been fit into a tight schedule: sing, eat, sing some more, get dressed, put on make-up, sing once again, and then wait. By the time they were ready for the show to begin they were tired and irritable. The dresses they had to wear were heavy and thick making them hot. Not to mention ugly and out of date.

"Looks like a pretty good crowd," Meg whispered to Christine as they waited back stage. Christine looked past her shoulder. The house was more then half way full. Only some rows were empty up in the balcony.

Christine's heart started to pound as it always did right before a big performance. Not to mention that this was the first she had ever done out of state. She and Meg were doing a duet together in the second act and she wondered if Meg was just as nervous as she was. Glancing at her best friend it seemed that she was more excited then anything else making Christine wish she felt the same.

The concert was a success. They started out nicely in the beginning, a couple of small stage errors here and there, but nothing major. Christine and Meg's duet couldn't have been sung better. The months of practicing had paid off.

Afterwards, they celebrated back stage and in the dressing rooms. When the crowd finally dispersed they started roaming the stage and the seating areas. Meg ands Christine changed out of the dresses and into more comfortable clothing and walked around the theater.

"Oh look! I didn't know they had box seats here," Meg said pointing up at the balcony seats on the sides of the theater. They sat down next to a group of girls they sometimes hung out with on certain occasions, Becky, Amanda and Brianna, who sat together in the fourth row to the theater.

"Yea, I noticed them when we looked out over the crowd before the performance, but I don't think I saw anyone sitting in them." Christine stated looking up at the dark balcony.

"They probably don't use them unless it's for some major full house production or something." Meg replied.

"I don't know about that, I'm pretty sure I saw someone sitting up there actually. I think around the time you and Christine were doing your duet," Amanda replied. "They were gone after that or at least the next time I looked up to see."

"Are your eyes always wondering Amanda? Jeez no wonder Mr. Cleveland is always yelling at you to pay attention" Brianna laughed. Amanda shrugged.

"I pay attention I just don't like focusing on one thing." Amanda explained.

"So the guy was probably a manager of the place or something if he didn't even stay for the whole performance." Meg said getting back on topic.

"I don't know," Amanda shrugged, "Couldn't really see his face. So Anyways, Becky, when are you going to see Mike again?"

Becky laughed at Amanda's randomness.

"I don't know. Were supposed to get together when we get back, oh my god! Did I tell you what happened that night…?"

Becky trailed off into some same old story, Meg nudged Christine and she got up and followed Meg off who knew where.

"Oh, Christine there you are!" Mrs. Swift shouted as she came around a hallway. "Look I need to talk to you for a minute, Meg do you mind? Alright then, come with me Christine it will only take a moment."

Christine glanced at Meg and followed Mrs. Swift into a nearby room. Mrs. Swift had loads of papers and folders scattered on top of a desk. Christine wondered how important this really was. Mrs. Swift always seemed to make a big deal out of the smallest things. Perhaps that was just part of her job.

Mrs. Swift closed the door and sat down at the table. Christine sat down as well, not sure on how long this was going to take. Mrs. Swift started going through papers. Christine noticed that they were all personal contact and emergency information of all the students.

"Well Christine I was going through the contacts and I was wondering, did you happen to forget to fill one out?" Mrs. Swift asked behind small oval glasses.

"No Mrs. Swift I'm pretty sure I gave you one before we left on the bus." In fact Christine knew she did. She remembered handing it to her right before she stepped on the bus.

Mrs. Sift nodded. "Mmm that's what I thought. Ok, well we've seemed to have misplaced it, even though I was sure I had kept all of them safely inside my bag. You'll just have to fill another one out."

Christine nodded not giving any thought on the fact that her personal information was missing. Mrs. Swift handed her another sheet and she filled it out with the usual information.

"Alright thank you Mrs. Daae," Mrs. Swift said taking the sheet. "Ill be sure not to have this one get lost either, although I think it strange enough the other one was gone in the first place. I had never had that happen before."

"Ok well is that it Mrs. Swift?" Christine got up, wanting to get off the whole incident.

"Yep, you're free to go!" She said gathering up papers and placing them in a bag.

"So what was that all about?" Meg asked as Christine walked out of the room.

"Nothing real important, just another one of Mrs. Swift's paranoid issues with keeping things organized." Christine shrugged. Meg gave her a look and Christine smiled.

"Those stupid emergency and personal contact sheets they make us fill out before we can go on the trip, you know? Yea, well Mrs. Swift lost mine. Real typical huh?." Christine laughed.

"Wow, that is so like her," Meg laughed as well." So anyways, have you decided yet on coming to music camp for the summer with me? I know you want to Christine." Meg said in her joking, but still serious voice.

"You know I want to Meg, but … my family."

"Oh, come on! Look, ill talk to them. Tell them how important it is to have someone you know at camp. Plus, they know how much it would mean to you right?"

Christine rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't want to go. She defiantly wanted to. But whether her aunt and uncle would let her was a whole other matter. Then Christine thought:_ what the heck. Why not let Meg persuade them. She was real good at it after all, much more then she was._

"Alright Meg, if you can persuade my aunt and uncle then ill come." Christine said challenging her.

Meg smiled wickedly. "Get ready for one hell of a summer Christine Daae."

Christine smiled. "I'll be looking forward to it."


	3. New objective

**AN**: Sorry for the long wait. Things got a little busy for me. Thanks for the reviews. I know my grammer isn't amazing, but thanks for telling me about it, I'll fix them when i can. I love New York and I know the people there are nicer than I made them. The last chapter was made before i went however, and it is common for some people, who are not from New York, to assume that there much tougher because tourists are not use to the busy, city life. Im only using that referance as to the fact that the chacters are new there as well. The last chapter was pretty shitty in itself anyways, i think this ones better. the story will get more interesting as it goes on, like many stories take time to be..

_chapter 3_

Nadir Khan walked up the street toward the flashing lights that cut through the darkness. Ahead of him he could see Chief Brady talking to a couple of detectives right near a car parked by an old looking building. Another man sat on the curb smoking and watching the detectives. Brady saw Nadir coming and gestured to the other detectives of his approach.

"Thanks for coming. I think we got something Mr. Kahn, but I wasn't sure so I knew I had to call you." Brady said as they walked towards the vehicle.

"I will come for anything that will help me get closer to Erik." Nadir responded.

"Right, well I'd like you to meet detective Daniel and detective Tomas. They have been helping me with the case," Brady stated. Nadir shook hands and introduced himself.

"We worked to find any possible evidence inside the building the day of the explosion and we were able to fine discarded weapons. We took them in for identity approval although we knew for certain that it must have been this Erik guy because non of the swat or other officers carried such weapons." Detective Tomas explained.

"Then we got a call from this man here," Brady pointed to the man who was sitting on the curb. "This is Cory Bates. Bates called police saying he had seen a suspicious man come out of this vehicle," Brady pointed to an old car parked on the side, "take out items, including what seemed to be armed weapons, and stealing one of the vehicles on the street nearby."

"Did you happen to catch the man's face Mr. Bates?" Nadir asked making sure it was the right man.

"No sir, I couldn't see a damn thing." Said Bates in his rough, New York, accent.

"Because he wore a mask?" Nadir asked.

"Err I don't know… It was dark," said Bates who started to chuckle and then cough.

Nadir nodded. Not surprising. "Will you please show me the vehicle Mr. Tomas?"

"Sure, of course." Tomas took out a flashlight and headed to the side of the vehicle.

"When we got here we weren't positive that the man at the building and the man Bates described were the same, but we came here and when we looked over the vehicle we found some things that made us more sure it could have been him." Tomas opened the door and pointed with the flashlight.

Nadir peered inside. At first he just saw discarded junk, but then looking closer he saw that there were maps, newspapers, discarded cell phones, lab tops, and other electronic software. On the floor were a few other discarded weapons as well as a couple hundred dollars.

"We found that all the electronics were disengaged and broken so contact or personal information could not be found. The weapons as well are empty of any ammo and are unusable. The maps are of the New York City area as well as across the state." Tomas spoke while pointing his flashlight at the items.

Nadir looked around the car more closely. He noticed wire cords that wove up the side of the car and on the dashboard.

"He's gone." Nadir spoke and the others looked at him surprised.

"How do you know?" Brady asked.

"You see there?" Nadir pointed at the cords. "A GPS system was connected there, but is now gone. Plus the fact the maps of New York are still in this car and not with him can only mean that he doesn't plan to stay here any longer."

"But, can you be sure?" Brady said not wanting to believe the man who had caused so much chaos was gone for good.

"I have been chasing Erik for a long time Mr. Brady as I told you and I have learned the ways that he works. He takes what he needs and he leaves what he doesn't need. When he makes up his mind it is set and will rarely change. I can not say he won't ever come back, but I doubt it will be anytime soon, especially if he has left for something of much more importance or value."

Brady nodded in understanding, but still disappointed. He had wanted to catch Erik here and now, but it looked like he was too late.

"I suppose this means you'll be leaving." Brady said.

"As soon as I get a lead then yes I will be."

"Perhaps this will help," Detective Tomas said taking something from in the car and showing it to Nadir.

Nadir took it and found that he was holding a photograph. Squinting, he tried to see it better. He asked for a flashlight and concentrated hard on the photo before him.

The photo was of a large group or class of students all standing on steps of a large building. The people all looked to be a group of high school students. Their smiling faces distorted by the light of the flashlight.

Suddenly Nadirs eyes widened. He noticed that a piece of the photo was missing as if ripped out. The rip started just before the face of a girl with a bright smile and light blond hair. Whoever the person had been next to her the only part left to be seen on the photo was the person's arm wrapped around the blond girls shoulder.

On the bottom of the photo was wording. _Silver Lake High school Choir 2008, Silver Springs, Michigan. _So the picture was of a choir from Michigan.

Thoughts began to stream through Nadir's mind. What was Erik doing with a photo like this? Whose picture had it been that was so important that he had ripped out and took it with him?

"Do you mind if I keep this?" Nadir asked still looking over the photo.

"Sure. You seem to need it more then we do now." Said Tomas

"Thank you." Said Nadir and put the picture away inside his jacket. "Thank you very much Mr. Brady for your service, I hope to return the favor someday."

Brady nodded. "Actually, there is something. Even though he seems to be no longer a threat in this area I would appreciate it very much if you called me when you have finally caught him."

"I will." Nadir murmured hoping that he would be able to make that call one day.

Nadir began to walk back to his car when Brady called back one last time.

"Just out of curiosity, where has he taken you now, Nadir?"

Nadir looked back. "Michigan…Silver Springs, Michigan."


	4. Driven

**AN**: sry for the not so fast updates. its going to be harder cause im back in school, but luckily i have this and a half other chapter done. I admit i dont like this chapter very much for some reason. I debated on even putting it in, but i wanted to update. I can explian why i dont like it ( after all theres a certian someone in it that you'd think id be happy to write on). The problem is time. I dont have any! or barley any. so either it takes longer to update or i just start spouting out chapters without really proofreading them (sorry). plus its short..well ill have to find out in your reviews so let me know. thanks.

**Chapter 4**

The cell phone rang. Its light blinking on and off in the darkness. A hand grabbed for it nearby. The figure glanced over the number, his form barley lit by the cell phone's glow. He opened up the phone and put it to his ear , his eyes shifting back to the road before him. The lights streaking past in the night, distorted the mask upon his face even more.

"What do you want?" The figure murmured coldly.

"Erik…where are you? Did you get the documents?" Someone on the other line asked in a voice that was quiet and full of uncertainty.

" What do you think? Haven't you been watching?"

"We weren't sure. We hadn't heard from you and-"

"I'm bringing them to you now. Meet me in Detroit and I'll deliver them to you."

"Detroit? Where are you going Erik? Mr. Volant has been waiting."

" If he wants what I have than he'll come and get them from me. My work is finished in New York and the cops have been looking far long enough. If Mr. Volant needs me to do another task, he'll have to find one somewhere away from the city."

" I understand you cant stay in one place for so long Erik, but I'm surprised by your sudden getaway from the city. Were you close to being caught?"

Erik hesitated for a moment, breathing low. "… Not exactly. I have…something important I need to take care of."

" Another Job?" the man on the line asked in surprise. He didn't expect Erik to get back into the field so soon.

" No." Erik said a little impatiently. " This is something more personal, so I'd advise you not to call me again after the documents are delivered."

"…I see. Very well, will bring someone to Detroit to meet with you and trade over the documents for the money. If Mr. Volant needs your services ever again however, will we be able to contact you?"

" I will get a hold of you when I am able to do any more jobs. For now however, I suggest you find someone else."

With that Erik hung up and tossed the phone on the passenger seat. He continued to drive on into the night, his speed accelerating way past the normal limit. He didn't care about getting pulled over. Nothing was going to stop him from getting where he was heading now.

He glanced over on the passenger seat , thinking heavily. He than reached over and pulled up a folded paper that his cell had fell on top of. Driving carelessly, using his knees to steer, he turned on a small car light and unfolded the parchment.

He glanced over the information.

_Christine Daae._

_Age: 18_

_Birthday: 11/8/1990_

_School: Silver lake High,_

_Silver springs, Michigan_

The paper also had two contact numbers a home address, email and the names of The girl's guardians. Erik glanced over this and than took up a photograph that had been folded inside. The photo was ripped, revealing only the face of a the girl that the personal information had described. He looked at the girl's face for a moment not even glancing at the vacant highway that stretched before him.

He seemed to think on something while looking at her face. The face of someone that tortured his very being. He couldn't stop himself now. When he first laid eyes on her he knew that nothing was going to be the same.

He looked away from the photo before it drove him mad. Never before had he felt such a want for someone in his life. Every motive that he had before was for nothing more than to gain a sense of power, to be above everyone , to be feared as it seemed he was born to be. His face had made him what he was, the actions of others, their responses to him, made him do what he did. But it was someone from his past, someone he had been compelled to forget forever, that he was so close to shredding from his dim memories, that drove him to where he found himself now.

He was unsure what he would do once he got a hold of this Christine Daae. His emotions where so tangled he couldn't figure out which ones were true; the rage that burned thinking of the past; or the reemerging hope thinking of the future.

A sign beside the road told Erik he was less than a hundred miles away from the Ohio border. Erik placed the photo and the paper back on the seat and concentrated back on the road. While he drove on endlessly in the night, he thought up a plan on how to get closer to Christine Daae.


	5. Instigation

**An:**finally found time to write another chapter! (well actually i really didn't, but i took the time i had where i should have been working and used it to write instead heh..). didn't have time to really _carefully_ check for grammar though, but if i had it would have taken even longer to put up. hate to admit that i may start rushing the story. Ive realized increasingly over the years how impatient i really am. if i seriously take too long on something it becomes harder for me to complete unless with a good amount of motivation. (sad trait for a writer, i know..). Ive also realized im starting to like fanfic writing less and writing actual stories more..well anyways this isn't my best b/c i kinda rushed but i hope you will still enjoy.

chapter 5

"Christine! Christine! Hello, wake UP!" Meg practically shouted in Christine's ear as she lay on a small twin bed.

Christine jolted out of her dreams . Her eyes opened slightly, squinting from light nearby. Groaning, she turned on her stomach and dug her head under her pillow. Meg sighed and went over to the end of Christine's bed and forcefully pulled the blankets off. Christine sighed in annoyance and sat up, hugging her pillow.

Meg smirked at Christine's irritated expression and unruly hair.

"Oh come on Christine, you know we have to be at class in an hour and I want to eat! Plus you do know what day it is don't you?" Meg said falling on Christine's bed to lie on her back and look up at Christine.

Christine couldn't recall at the moment having to remember what day it was, she was still trying to recover from the sudden wake up call Meg had given her.

" Its… Tuesday?" Christine said before yawning.

Meg rolled her eyes. "No dummy, The day we both have been anticipating since, oh I don't know, forever! The Chaney's are coming today and staying for like two weeks, remember?"

Christine's eyes widen as she recalled this. She hadn't realized today was that day.

" Oh wow, your right, I had forgotten! Is that really today.?" Christine asked and when Meg nodded with a sly grin, Christine threw the pillow at her and jumped off the bed. The two girls laughed, waking up some of the other girls inside the cabin. They quieted down then and quickly got dressed.

Christine and Meg walked out of the small cabin and headed down a small path woven around other cabins nearby. The camp was full of students bustling about, back and forth on the main path. Nearby cars drove through and Christine could see the morning mist blowing off from the lake nearby.

The summer sun began to make its way above the horizon. The two girls walked past the guest building, a sign standing out to all visitors.

_Silver Lake Music and Fine Arts Camp_

Christine couldn't help but smile, for she felt so fortunate to be able to come to the camp in her last year before she went off to collage.

" So I heard the Chaney's are staying at the state park campgrounds nearby. They're supposed to be seeing our performance next Friday and there are rumors their going to have a huge party afterwards and were all invited." Meg said enthusiastically.

" I didn't think we were allowed to go to the state campgrounds unless we had family there." Said Christine.

" Um, it's the Chaney's, Christine. They own, or rather the older son, owns this whole place. Do you really think the camp will argue with them? Give me a break. Besides, at least that means I'll get to see Billy and we'll be away from the camp and their stupid rules, do you understand where I'm going here Christine?"

" Yes, yes Meg, I get it." Christine rolled her eyes. Meg had been "seeing" Billy, a guitar junky and gifted singer since they had started at the camp. Unfortunately for her the camp had strict rules on in camp dating. Both boys and girls had a curfew and weren't allowed in each other boundaries at any of those times. As for any serious flings, making out was forbidden and kissing, even in a friendly way, was frowned upon.

The two girls made it to the dining hall where crowds of kids sat and hung around. Meg waved flirtingly at Billy nearby who nodded back. Christine looked around and saw a hoard of students gathered around a girl with fiery red hair and arrogant gaze. Charlotte Mackenzie. A foreign exchange student with a mouth as big as her head. Although everyone praised her for her big voice, Christine saw her for what she really was, a spoiled, conceited, brat.

Christine and Meg sat down beside a few other girls they hung with and ate quickly until a bell rang out and they were rushed off to their morning classes.

As the day dragged on, Christine had been through three courses, dance, music interpretation, and stage performance, until her break before her choir practice. Surprisingly, choir practice was her most dreaded class, because she had to deal with Charlotte's terrible ranting, while she tried to not only prove to others they couldn't sing, but unknowingly correcting the teacher as well.

Everyone knew that Charlotte received private lessons. Small talk amongst groups said she'd be the next big thing. But neither Christine nor Meg thought her voice was that good. Meg lightly joked that when she really got into a certain song she sounded like a dieing cow. Christine never said anything in response, but whether Charlotte was good or not, Christine truly hated her.

For some reason it was Christine Charlotte liked to point fun at the most. No one could really say why for sure, but either way it never helped Christine feel any better about her voice, no matter how much she remembered what her father use to say to her.

_Your voice could go so far Christine. One day someone will come and really shape it for what it truly is and you'll fly higher than anyone has ever flied before. _Christine's father told her many things like this when she was younger, right before his death.

The Choir group started making their way to the large stage, known as the "Shell", where they had begun to practice for the performance coming up next week. Christine parted with Meg who went off to Dance lessons.

" Alright ladies and gentlemen in your positions. We'll start with the basic scales and then will get right into the first song." The director announced. Christine was close to the middle right behind charlotte who stood out in front. They went through the scales as usual and began into the entry song for the performance.

The director, Mr. Bale, tried for the first time to get us through all the songs without stopping to correct mistakes to see where we were at so far.

" Well there's certainly improvement from last week," Said Mr. Bale. "But there still some tone inaccuracy through some of the parts. We'll work on it with the main choir, but lets get the soloists out so they can practice on their solos." Charlotte immediately walked out of the group, without even looking back, and made her way around the back where she was going to practice. Christine scowled at her indifference of the choir group. _Just because she was doing a solo didn't make her any more important_, Christine thought.

Practice continued on until, finally, they were dismissed for the evening. While Christine made her way out of the stage, she over heard a very crude, familiar voice.

" They shouldn't blame the whole choir on their tone inaccuracy. All the director would have to do was stand beside me and he could of heard the biggest mistake of them all right behind him. After all, its hard to keep a whole group in tone when you have a droning voice killing the whole performance." Charlotte stated quite loudly in her obnoxious French accent. She looked toward in Christine's direction and the group around her snickered quietly.

Christine hesitated for a moment while glancing her way. Once she knew that Charlotte was talking about her she immediately walked off angrier then she had ever been by Charlotte's words. Instead of going to the main building for dinner she went through the darkening woods back to her cabin. No one was on the paths and she began to run back, tears starting fall down her face.

Once she made it to her cabin, she ran inside and fell on to her bed sobbing. _That cow! That spoiled, rotten cow, I hate her! I don't have a droning voice.._ Christine thought angrily through rushing tears.

She laid there for a long while until she sat up and felt a crumpling sound under her pillow. She looked under it to find a note addressed to her. Sniffing she opened it with curiosity.

_Go to the radio building._

Christine searched the note for any more writing, but found nothing. She wiped her eyes and tried to understand who would have sent her this, until she started to hear voices from outside. Without really thinking or caring anymore about it, she quickly made her way out of the cabin and into the night, toward the radio building.

While she walked, she wondered if it was Charlotte or one of her friends trying to trick her. If it was, she wasn't going to be fooled and she'd tell Charlotte off so bad she'd never say a damn thing to her again!

Being so upset by what had happened that day, Christine hadn't realized she had already made her way to the radio building which was a quarter of a mile away from the camp.

There were no outdoor or indoor lights on in the building, and Christine thought to turn back, thinking it was a mistake. She suddenly felt Goosebumps crawl up her arms as she felt very much alone in the darkness. She quickly made her way to the building and hoped that it wasn't locked.

The door swung open and she cautiously made her way in.

" Hello? Anyone here," Christine called. " I got this note and -"

Christine stopped as she saw a light on in one of the rooms. She slowly made her way into it to find a medium sized room with nothing but stacked chairs, a table and a long horizontal mirror on one side of a wall. She figured it must be a recording studio where they let people record Cds of personal performances to take home with them. They didn't use it however, until the end of the season. For now the room looked like it was only used for storage.

Christine looked around the place curiously. She even went to the long mirror and realized it was see through when she looked through it hard enough. She tried to see if anyone was on the other side, but it seemed too dark.

For a couple of minutes nothing happened and Christine thought to leave. She shrugged and began to make her way out of the room until a voice spoke out from seemingly no where making Christine jump.

"_Christine_," The voice said.

Christine looked around.

"yes?" She said a little shakily.

At first the voice said nothing and Christine waited. The voice then spoke out and told her that they were going to instruct her in private singing lessons.

" Did…did the camp instructors plan this?" Christine asked hesitantly. It all seemed a little odd.

" Yes," The voice said. " Now come back into the room so we can begin."

Christine didn't feel all too convinced, but something, whether it was the anger still lingering inside her from today, or the fear of being punished if she disobeyed, made her decide to stay. If it was a prank, it didn't feel like one. The instructor seemed very professional and very serious. Even a piano played out skillfully from somewhere unseen, to help her in her scales.

It was quite late until the lesson was over. Her instructor only had made her do scales, which she didn't understand why. When the voice said they were finished, Christine hesitated to leave.

Before Christine could ask anymore questions however, the voice spoke out first.

" Will continue again tomorrow at seven."

" Wait! Um...so is this really happening? I mean, your truly going to help me have a better voice?" Christine stammered a little. For some odd reason the voice made her very nervous. Perhaps because it sounded so intimidating in itself.

" Your voice is fine, Christine. But I am going to help shape it into what it truly can be."

When the voice said this, Christine's heart jolted so fast, it hurt. Could it be possible?

_Someone will come and really shape it for what it truly is._ Was this what her father was talking about?

It was than that Christine didn't feel anymore suspicious, but convinced. Whether the camp had planned this for her or not, she didn't feel any reason to discontinue or withdraw such an opportunity. She made her mind up then, that she would except the teachings from this mysterious person.

Christine finally went to leave, but stopped one last time.

" What's your name?" Christine asked innocently, not sure whether to be more formal. " I mean, what do I call you?" She directed the questions toward the mirror unintentionally.

The voice seemed to hesitate for a moment.

" Erik," The voice said softly. " You can call me Erik."


End file.
